Concern and support for child-protection bill

Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, leaves the room as Ken Schatz, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, center rear, testifies before a joint hearing of the House and Senate judiciary committees at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo

MONTPELIER – Vermont's top lawyer says a new child-protection bill would help the state to act in cases of "horrendous injuries to a child" when it's difficult to prove which of two parents is responsible.

The head of the Department for Children and Families, however, raised concerns Wednesday because the bill's definitions of criminal responsibility may be too broad.

Lawmakers drafted the bill after the deaths of two young children last year who had been under state supervision. Their cases prompted several reports about what went wrong and how the Department of Children and Families must act to prevent future tragedies.

One section in the 43-page Senate bill would create a new crime of "failure to protect a child," which would carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $20,000.

The state could bring charges against anyone with "custody, care, or charge of a child" who failed to protect the child from injury, exposure to illegal drugs and sexual exploitation or assault.

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Rep. Tom Burditt, R-West Rutland, listens as Ken Schatz, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, testifies before a hearing of the House and Senate judiciary committees.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

Attorney General William Sorrell had recommended in July that Vermont consider such a law.

Sorrell said state's attorneys currently face frustrating situations when a child has been injured but parents or caregivers say they have no idea how the injuries happened, or when the caregivers each accuse one another.

"In both of those situations under current law, our hands are really tied," Sorrell told a joint House and Senate committee meeting Wednesday morning. Sorrell added that a new criminal statute would hold parents responsible for injury even if they are not directly responsible.

The attorney general is focused on holding parents and caregivers responsible, he said — not on prosecuting teachers or state employees who fail to protect a child. But the new criminal penalties could apply to state employees, depending on the case, Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington said.

"If the state employee knows there's a child rapist in the home, or should have known, and the child is raped, did they have some obligation to keep that kid safe?" Sears said in an interview after the meeting. "It's case-specific."

The commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, who also testified at the joint committee meeting Wednesday, raised concerns about the proposed definition of crime.

Instead of creating a new crime, Schatz suggested an alternative by which officials would not reunite a child with his or her parents if the parents could not adequately explain a serious injury.

Schatz's concerns about the bill surprised Sears, who left the room at one point during testimony.

"It would have been nice if DCF had at least let us know their concerns about the bill before today, so that was a little disappointing," Sears said after the meeting.

Schatz and Chief Superior Judge Brian Grearson both said on Wednesday that the bill's language about failure to protect children from "exposure" to drug use is too vague. Sears later said he agreed with this criticism.

Grearson also raised a question about whether the new crime of failure to protect children from exposure to drugs could have a "chilling effect on parents" during state investigations.

Parents may hesitate to talk about drug use happening in their homes, Grearson said, "because to do so may subject themselves to prosecution under this statute."

Separately from the Senate bill about child protection, 26 House members are preparing to introduce a measure that would require mandated reporters — such as social workers, teachers, health care providers and clergy — to report suspicions of child sexual abuse to the Department for Children and Families within 24 hours.